Release
by AbsolutAnda
Summary: Percy and Thalia have a late night chat. Twoshot. No enforced pairings.
1. Chapter 1

Release

Part One

By: AbsolutAnda

Thalia sighed contentedly as she pushed herself up from the ground, as if to do a push-up, then with swift gracefulness, she snapped her hips up into a triangle; downward facing dog. She held this position for a few breaths before lifting her right leg straight up behind her then bringing it up between her hands, planting her foot firmly in the sand. She straightened her torso raised her arms straight above her head, looking out over the dimly moon-lit lake of Camp Half-Blood. The sky was completely clear and she could pick out almost every constellation within her sight. She took a deep breath and folded over again.

Then she looked up, hearing a small splash coming from the other side of the lake, but she didn't see anything but ripples forming near the dock; probably a camper going for a late night swim. She turned her attention back to her yoga, focusing on taking long, steady breaths as she moved fluidly through various poses. She bent over, feeling the stretch through her spine as she let her top half hang, swaying back and forth the slightest bit. She sighed contentedly; this was exactly what she needed. She stayed like that for a few moments before rolling her spine back up, feeling each vertebrae stack up once more. She brought her head up last, and her heart jumped in her chest from surprise.

Right in front of her was Percy Jackson, stalking out of the water, completely dry. He hadn't noticed her yet; his neck was craned back over his shoulder look to the camp. He was muttering angrily under his breath, but even in the overwhelming silence of early –_early__—_morning, Thalia couldn't make it out.

"Jackson, what the _hell_ are you doing here?" She snapped sharply, crossing her arms over her chest. Percy's foot slipped out from under him, and as he flailed his arms to keep himself from falling, his head whipped back around so fast Thalia thought he must have hurt himself.

"Thalia?" He looked just as surprised to see her, as she was to see him. "I could ask you the same question; it's like 4am."

"Touché." She responded after a silent glare. Percy didn't say anything like she thought he would, standing awkwardly and rocking on the balls of his feet as he avoided her gaze. "So what exactly _are_ you are doing here?" She repeated her question. He thought for a moment.

"Just…hanging out?" He tried, shrugging, knowing exactly how unbelievable that sounded.

"Look _Perce_," Thalia began, trying not to sound like complete bitch, but still trying to get the point across that she really just didn't want to see _anyone_ right now. Night time was _her _time. It always had been. "Nothing against you, but this is kind of my personal time. So could you…?" She made shooing motions with her hands, waving him back towards the water he had just walked out of.

But instead, he just kept staring at her with that annoyingly amused expression; like he was just humoring her.

"_Jackson."_ She snapped. "Do you mind? I'm really _not_ in the mood for company. This is the only time when there's no one around, thanks to your little demand last year." She knew she didn't need to elaborate further. Percy was feeling the same way she was about all of the new demigods flooding the camp. During the day, it was impossible to find any solitude, even in her cabin. Just being here for a visit seemed to give everyone the signal to ask her as many questions as possible, no matter what they were interrupting. Her favorite so far was a skinny son of Apollo shouting out his question of, "what was it like being a tree" –being completely serious and expecting an answer—while she was in the middle of sparring. That earned the shrimp a heavy knock to the helmet with the butt of her sword. With Percy being the _golden boy_ of the camp, he was probably getting just as many visitors, if not more.

"Well, you picked _my_ place to be alone at odd hours of the night."

Thalia glared at him, then quickly took in where they were; a secluded section of beach that didn't seem to get many visitors. There were trees surrounding them, their branches forming a canopy, looking out across the crystal waters of the lake; now completely still without campers canoeing all over the damn place. It was really only accessible by water; she was lucky she had been able to find a way through the woods. The perfect place for a son of Poseidon. Most campers probably didn't even know it existed, which was a good thing, really. She would hate to see a beautiful sanctuary turn into a make-out spot.

"Let me guess; you were here first."

"Something like that." He answered with a grin. "But I went to preschool; I know how to share." He plopped down on the sand, letting his feet rest within reach of the small waves gently lapping at the shore.

"It's beautiful here." Thalia stated, feeling awkward, as she sat down next to Percy, crossing her legs in the sand. "I'm surprised people don't canoe over here, though I'm glad that they don't." She added quickly, feeling Percy's suspicious glace.

"Me too. Luckily, there's a row of huge rocks right across there." He drew a vague line through the air in the direction of camp, across the water. Thalia had a sneaking suspicion that they rocks were his doing; he looked a bit too proud of something. "Canoes get stuck on them, and people always seem to get lost trying to get here through the woods."

They sat in silence for a while, before Percy spoke again.

"So who are you hiding from?"

"What do you mean?"

He gave her a pointed look, which she ignored. "No one goes to the trouble to all the way out here just because."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"Have you ever seen Annabeth really mad?"

Thalia made an "o" with her mouth in understanding.

"Gotcha." She paused for another few minutes. "She mad right now?"

"Nah, she's up at Olympus, finalizing some designs with Athena for another pointless filler-building." Thalia nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about. She also didn't grasp the point of having tons of little buildings that didn't contribute to society in any way, other than making the angles of one building complement those of another.

"So if you're not hiding from Annabeth…" She trailed off.

"Three unclaimed new kids." He elaborated. "They're all hoping to be a son of Poseidon and they've been following me around since they got here. I think they're hoping that he'll claim them if they hang around me enough. It was funny at first, but now it's just annoying. I'm _this close_ to going up to Olympus and demanding that _someone_ own up, just to get rid of them." Thalia grinned at his frustration. It was actually pretty entertaining.

"Somehow, I don't think the gods would appreciate that, even if it _did _come from the golden boy of Olympus."

Percy let out a huff of frustration and kicked his feet in the water a few times; the temper tantrum of champions. Though she did notice that the ripples were slightly too big for such little movement, and they swept out across the lake far faster than normal. There was that Poseidon charm…

"Whoa, calm down Jackson, you'll start a tsunami with all that rage." Thalia quipped, grinning at his stormy expression. He turned back to glare at the lake, his face catching the light of the moon and stars. Then Thalia really looked at him and noticed how tired he looked. His usual annoyingly cheerful face had been replaced with the face of an almost gaunt, pale stranger, with bags under his lidded eyes and an air of weariness all around him. From somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered that he had just gotten back from a quest earlier. "You look awful." She realized, now that she had finally gotten a good look at him. "What the hell hit you?"

"A Manticore. Maybe three." He paused and when Thalia turned to prompt him to continue, he added, "Maybe one just hit me three times, I can't really be sure; I was so tired I may have been delirious."

"So you're just really, really tired." Thalia stated, making a show of thinking it over while hoping that was all, and that he didn't want to have a meaningful conversation. Percy tentatively nodded and internally, Thalia breathed a sigh of relief. "If you're so tired, then go to bed instead of stalking the bottom of the lake. It's a pretty simple solution."

"I do not _stalk._ And I've been _trying_ to sleep," Percy sighed and scooped up a handful of sand from between his legs and let it run through the bottom of his fist. "I just can't shut my brain off for some reason. I keep thinking about…everything, anything; whatever happens to cross my mind. I've even spent _hours_ trying to decide what to have for breakfast the next morning."

"Congratulations. It would seem as though, like me, you have become an _insomniac_." She paused, then cocked her head towards him, adding, "a great album, by the way."

He ignored her golden nugget of wisdom and snorted sardonically.

"Great. As if I need something else to worry about."

Thalia could see that this conversation was going to be getting much deeper down the emotional rabbit hole than she had initially foreseen when the other demigod wandered over; it had the potential to turn into a full-scale therapy session, sans couch and pipe. The very thought of it made her tired. It was at this point that she had to decide whether to stick it out, or pat Percy on the back, suggest a sedative, and head back to her cabin to continue her yoga in peace.

She was getting way too nice…

"Okay," She relented. "Tell Auntie Thalia your problems. What's up?" She paused for a moment. "But if it's relationship issues, I'm assuming I don't have to remind you how my last romantic attempt ended." Much to her relief, Percy snorted with a hint of a smile on his face. She had never been very good at dealing with people who were upset, unless it was Annabeth. At least, Annabeth when she was seven; Thalia had no idea how to deal with her anymore. It was still a shock every time she looked into her face and saw that the girl she considered a little sister was all grown up.

Percy seemed to understand, though.

"Don't worry, I won't start crying on your shoulder. I'm fine, I just have to sort through some…things." He finished cryptically, leaving Thalia wanting to know what these "things" were, but not enough to actually ask. There was no way she was going to open _that_ can of worms.

"Suit yourself." She pushed herself back up to continue with her yoga, not at all put off by Percy's presence. She was even starting to get used to the little snot. Thalia raised her arms gracefully, then bent her top half again, walking out her fingertips to form her body into a triangle. Out of the corner of her eye, she could just make out Percy next to her, watching her with limited interest. She dropped her hips and moved into the "plank" pose, as if to do a pushup, then lowered herself down to the sand. She pushed up her torso and closed her eyes as she felt the stretch through her spine. Then she snapped her hips back up and planted her hands in front of her, spreading her legs out into a triangle, feeling the muscles in her thighs stretch.

"So what are you doing, yoga?" Percy asked after a few minutes. Thalia's eyes snapped open and she glared at him, upside-down, through her legs. He had stood up at some point.

"No, karate." She responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm. It didn't faze him in the slightest. Instead, he tilted his head to the side and kept his gaze locked with Thalia's, careful not to let his eyes wander. Annabeth would be proud.

"I didn't take you as one for doing yoga."

"Oh? What did you take me as one for doing?" She enjoyed watching his eyebrow twitch in confusion as he took in her oddly phrased response.

"Moshing?" He suggested. She paused then nodded her head appreciatively. "Yoga doesn't seem like something you can do while listening to Rancid."

"I'm impressed." Thalia moved herself gracefully through to a warrior pose, still facing away from Percy. "I didn't know you even knew who Rancid was." Percy shrugged behind her then moved to stand next to her on the beach.

"What can I say? I'm not _completely_ hopeless."

"That remains to be seen." Thalia quipped lightly, throwing her arms out to the side—nearly hitting Percy in the face had he not jerked back in time—in one fluid motion as she moved to the _Warrior Two_ pose.

She continued with her routine until she reached the Natarajasana pose, or "lord of the dance" pose, which always made her feel like she should be speaking in an Irish accent, like she should be step dancing behind Michael Flatley. She reached behind her with her left hand and began to bring her left foot up behind her, extending her right arm out in front of her. She held this for a few moments, but then she heard a groan of discomfort, followed by a painful gasp. She snapped her head around to see Percy, contorted into what was supposed to be a mirror image of Thalia's position, his limbs shaking under the strain and his left foot significantly lower than hers.

"What the hell are you doing?" Thalia asked, letting her limbs fall then putting out an arm to steady Percy's outstretched foot so he wouldn't topple over onto her. Percy slowly lowered his leg without falling, with help from Thalia, then put his hands on his hips, trying to look relaxed and nonchalant; like he hadn't just been shaking and about to collapse.

"Well, I figured that since I don't have anything better to do…" He trailed off at Thalia's look.

"Go to bed, Percy." She said as gently as she could. She wasn't trying to be mean; she just wanted to be alone. And judging by the look of him, he hadn't slept in a few days either. "You honestly look exhausted."

"I _am_." He admitted, frustration evident in his voice. "But even though I'm tired, the second I lie down, my brain starts going at Warp 5 and there's nothing I can do to slow it down." He shrugged. "I've tried everything I can think of. This yoga stuff is a last resort; believe me."

When she had first come to the camp, she would have been able to turn him down and walk away without the slightest tinge of guilt. His stupid baby face was starting to get to her. He just looked so _pathetic._

"Fine." She relented after a moment of thinking it over; having gone through the list of ways she could get rid of Percy and not found one way to do it guilt-free. "I'll teach you a routine that's supposed to help with insomnia. Didn't work for me, but maybe it will you." She grabbed his wrist and pulled up forward to stand on level with her. "Just do what I do. We'll start slow; I'm assuming that Achilles Warranty doesn't cover pulled muscles…"

* * *

Well, that's it for part one. It's unbeta-ed, so let me know if you notice any glaringly obvious mistakes. But the good news: I have the next part all done. All I'm waiting on are your lovely reviews. So go forth and review!

Anda


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, guys. You seem to be forgetting that I _can_ see how many people read this. 150 people read, and only 6 review? Come on, now. I know we can do better than that. (Thank you to those six people; you are officially exempt from shame.)

Here's the last part.

* * *

Release

Part Two

By: AbsolutAnda

_Finally, I'm alone._ Thalia thought happily as she stepped into _her_ lakeside clearing. No Percy in sight, no campers, no prying nymphs who liked to spy on two friends doing yoga and start rumors then spread them around camp; she could finally enjoy her insomnia in peace. It was all she wanted while visiting camp and finally, after a week of pestering campers trailing behind her around camp, she had it, on her last night. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy being a hunter of Artemis, but it was truly impossible to be alone there; sharing tents, the night guard following her around when she tried to leave, well-meaning girls trying to pry her deepest thoughts out of her. _Gods, it got old._

Deciding not to do yoga tonight, Thalia plopped down on the sand, foregoing any semblance of grace. She didn't know how long she sat watching the waves lap at the shore, but it took her even longer to notice the lone figure who occasionally bobbed up from the water, disappearing as fast as he came. She felt her heart sink as she sighed in frustration. There could only be one camper who could stay underwater for that long at a time.

Percy Jackson was the only person she had ever met who slept as little as she did.

Thalia kicked off her sandals, rolled up her tight jeans as much as the fabric would allow, then splashed out into the water, making as much of a commotion as she could without getting completely soaked.

Almost immediately, Percy's head shot out of the water. He twisted himself around, spotting Thalia, waving sarcastically from the shore.

He waved back before ducking back under the surface. He was taking his time getting over there, Thalia noticed, as he did a lazy front crawl in her direction. Once he was within a few feet of her, he stood up, letting water run down his bare chest. He shook his dark hair out of his eyes and grinned.

"You're back."

"You're wet." Thalia glanced him over with a flick of her gaze, noting that he had allowed himself to actually get wet and bothered to change into swimming trunks.

"Yeah," He shook his head violently, water droplets showering Thalia, who glared. "Sometimes it's nice to go swimming like a normal person." They waded back towards shore together and dropped down into the sand. "…but now I wish I'd brought a towel." He added. Thalia stared.

"Seriously? Just make yourself dry off."

"You're missing the point."

"Maybe I am, but you still don't make any damn sense." They sat in silence for a few moments. "So why are you up tonight? Yoga didn't work? 'Cause I'm not teaching you another one." She stated flatly.

"Nope, it worked." He answered, scrubbing him wet hair with his hands, trying to get more water out. He just made it stand up in every direction. "But yoga doesn't stop the dreams."

This was a completely serious statement that Thalia could completely relate to, but it was hard taking him seriously with his hair like that. He looked like a five year old.

"You mean the nightmares?" She knew exactly what he was talking about, assuming he had the same problems as she did. Like all demigods, she had the clairvoyant dreams that could leave you gasping for air, depending on what was going on in the world; but she also dreamt about the past, people dying, battles gone wrong, what could have been done to save someone, Annabeth dying, Chiron dying, hell, even _Percy_ dying…

"You too?" She nodded. He sighed. "I'm guessing yours are just as bad as mine then, if they're keeping you up too."

"Waking up screaming and strangled by your own sheets? Yep."

They sat in another silence, this one more comfortable, until Percy spoke up again.

"So is this common for demigods, or are we just particularly lucky? I mean, I'm alone in my cabin; I don't know if anyone else tries to stab their sheets when they wake up…"

Thalia thought for a moment. She was also alone in her cabin, but she hadn't heard talk of it from anyone else. "I think it might just be we lucky few…two." She amended. "Annabeth has never mentioned anything like this before. I mean, there's those weird prophetic-clairvoyant-whatever dreams, but my brain takes it to a whole new level." She paused. "Maybe it has to do with our dads being in the Big Three…more power, more nightmares?" She paused again. "Actually, that sounds stupid, ignore that."

"Hey, it's a theory, at least. If I could ever pin down Nico long enough to have a conversation past 'hey, what's up?', I'd ask him about it." Percy shrugged. "It's the only thing that makes any sense."

"Because we weren't freaky enough as it was." Thalia sighed with a sardonic grin. She brushed sand off of her damp calves before attempting to straighten her skinny jeans out once more, fighting against the tight fabric. "Jesus, who decided that these were a good idea?" She huffed angrily, now having to stand to readjust her pants everywhere as they were clinging in the wrong places and just fitting _wrong_ all over. "Whatever happened to regular, old-fashioned, loose jeans?"

Percy snorted. "I think they went out with the nineties."

"Well, the nineties just so happen to be when I'm from, so I'm sorry if I'm a bit behind the times." She snapped as she sat back down, her pants comfortable again. "Britney Spears was a good role model, Green Day was still a punk band, and iPods didn't exist."

"Oh, is that why you still have a Walkman?" Percy teased, a grin plastered across his stupid face.

"Hey, I like to physically touch my music. I don't want some ridiculous little machine deleting everything in a glitch." She glared as he started to laugh. "What?" She demanded.

"You're such a technophobe!" He exclaimed. "You live in a _tent_, how can you possibly carry around a bunch of CDs? Where do you keep them all?"

"Hey, I'll have you know that I have an apartment, thank you very much. I just don't spend all that much time there."

"How can you have an apartment? You're still fifteen."

"Physically, yes. But _legally,_ I'm an adult. I just told my landlord that I have a mild case of proportionate dwarfism." She shrugged as she admitted this shamelessly, as if it were no big deal, ignoring Percy's gaping expression. Being homeless with Luke and Annabeth had greatly improved her ability to lie without guilt. It was a necessity, as Luke couldn't always do it alone, and having Annabeth turn into a shameless little liar had been out of the question. Though she knew that they had lied occasionally, Annabeth probably had no idea to what extent it really was and Thalia wanted to keep it that way. In the eyes of the law, she and Luke had probably reached the status of 'con artists'.

"Won't your landlord start getting curious when you never get older?" Thalia just snorted.

"Like I'll be there long enough for _that_ to happen? I know how to keep ahead of suspicion." Percy paused.

"See, it's statements like that, that make me think the cops are going to show up for you someday."

"You really think the cops are going to arrest a "fifteen year old" for crimes committed by a teenager in the late nineties? _'But officer, I _couldn't_ have done that. I was only five at the time!'"_ Her voice shot up an octave and took on an unnervingly innocent quality as she imitated herself as a real fifteen year old. Percy just stared.

"It's kind of scary, how good you are at that…" She smirked.

"You should have seen Luke. He managed to talk cops into giving us twenty bucks each on more than one occasion." She ignored the painful tug in her chest at the thought of Luke. _You're over it._ She told herself firmly. _He hated when you cried. Stop it._ "Anyway," She cut off her own thoughts before they really got going. "you don't have to worry about getting pulled in as an accomplice or anything; I'll be out of that apartment in, like, two weeks." At Percy's wary expression she glared, letting her head fall to the side a bit. "My rent agreement is up." She explained flatly. "I swear, Jackson, _one more_ comment like that and I will stab you in the face."

He just grinned.

"Well, it's not like it would hurt you, _Superman_. Besides," She continued. "Annabeth would probably kill me for stabbing her boyfriend, or whatever you two are now."

"Don't ask me." Percy sighed, placing his hands on the ground between his legs. A trickle of water from the lake ran up the shore to meet his fingers as he continued. "Every time we try to sit down and sort it out, either she gets called to Olympus for some architecture thing, or _I_ get sent off on a quest, or to get some idiot demigod who's doing something stupid." He kept his fingertips in the small pool that as collected in front of him, swirling them around lazily. He seemed more relaxed.

"Well, if you're waiting for me to help you come to some realization; you're going to be waiting for a long time." She absentmindedly picked at her black nail polish, staring out across the dark lake. "Besides, I hardly even know Annabeth anymore…" She added under her breath, mostly to herself. Percy looked up at this, his fingers pausing in their movement.

"I thought you guys were pretty close. You iris each other a lot." Thalia shrugged.

"It's not the same." She smiled a humorless smile. "It's pretty uncomfortable, actually. I mean, I came out of that tree expecting to find a nine year old girl who needed me to hold her hand at night, and instead, I got a strong, confident, _kickass_, young woman who didn't need me anymore." She paused as her voice caught, remembering the moment she had laid eyes on Annabeth; tough, headstrong, intelligent, in-charge Annabeth. Her stomach had just about dropped out of her ass at that moment. Where did _her_ Annabeth go?

She started again, her voice quieter to hide its waver. "To me, she grew six years in a second, and even after three years, I _still_ feel out of synch." She felt the sting of tears forming and tried to blink them away, turning her head slightly as if to look back towards camp. Hopefully Percy didn't notice. She composed herself quickly and glanced back. He was staring determinedly at the small whirlpool he had created in the sand between his legs, but Thalia knew he wasn't actually all that interested in it. He understood that she didn't want him to see her on the verge of tears, so he looked away. She was grateful for it. At least _someone_ understood that, although she never expected that someone to be Percy, of all people.

He just shrugged. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've been here for over five years and I never was in synch. At least you probably were at some point." The whirlpool started again. Thalia snorted, rolling her eyes though he didn't see it.

"How are you not in synch? You're the 'hero of Olympus', or whatever they're calling you these days. Savior? Or is it just 'your highness' now?" She tried, but she couldn't keep the bitterness from creeping into her voice. Great. Now she sounded like a jealous, bitter, overemotional hag who could never find happiness. Just what she wanted…

"Wow, bitter much?" He laughed, but it didn't bother Thalia as much as it usually did. Normally, anyone who laughed at her bitterness got a punch to the face, at the very least.

"Hey, if I wanted all of Olympus kissing _my_ ass, I could make it happen. I'd just rather they keep out of my affairs."

"However shady your affairs may be." Percy added casually. He waited until he felt her glare at the side of his head before he turned to look at her, a badly suppressed grin forcing its way out. Thalia continued to glare for a moment before punching him solidly in the shoulder.

"You're lucky I don't have a knife at the moment."

"Ow?" He tried with that stupid grin shining through. Then Thalia remembered that damned Achilles thing.

"Gods, Jackson, you take all the fun out of punching you. There's hardly even a point anymore."

"Then why do you keep punching me? Not that it bothers me, or anything." Thalia continued to glare at him. Why was it that he was on the receiving end of that glare more than anyone else Thalia had ever come into contact with?

"Why would I stop punching you? I have a new punching bag."

"Oh, this this is going to become a regular thing, then?"

"You can travel through water, right? I mean, if I'm not here, I'll just stand in a puddle and yell at you." She shrugged.

"I don't think it works like that."

"It worked tonight."

"Yeah, but I was like, fifty feet away…"

"Same difference."

They sat in companionable silence for a few moments before Percy added,

"But seriously, if you call from a puddle, I'm not coming."

* * *

So, I don't know exactly how the whole dream-thing works, so I just made it up. Feel free to correct me.

Now, lets try this again. That link saying "Review this Story" with the cute little yellow word bubble next to it? Go ahead, click it.

Anda


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